LAS CRUCES >> After three relatively steady years, chile acreage in New Mexico dropped to about a four-decade low in 2013.

That's according to recently released federal chile production numbers.

Meanwhile, across Doña Ana County and other parts of the state, this year's chile crop is being planted.

The harvested acres dropped to 8,600 statewide in 2013 — 1,000 acres fewer than a year earlier and 100 acres fewer than a previous low point in 2010.

The last time acreage harvested was lower was in 1973, when 7,880 acres were picked.

Half of the drop was because of 500 fewer acres being planted — and harvested — in Luna County, according to the figures. Doña Ana County had 100 acres fewer. And the rest of the decline stemmed from unspecified "other counties," according to the report.

Robin Zielinski — Sun-News
Tyson Adams, chile farmer, holds a handful of chile seeds about to be planted on a recent day at his family farm in Hatch.

Jaye Hawkins, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association, said she'd thought that roughly the same acreage had been in place in Luna County in 2013 and 2012. But she said it may be that farmers received fewer contracts from chile processing companies to grow the crop last year. Or, because the numbers rely on reporting by farmers, there may be an error, she said.

"Possibly a grower didn't report," she said.

Longino Bustillos, U.S. Department of Agriculture state statistician for New Mexico, said the agency gathers its chile data from farmers. That's via a sampling method in which it makes sure to gather the largest growers' numbers, but it doesn't reach out to all of the smaller growers, whose acreage is a only a small amount of what's grown of the state. That information is cross-checked with data provided by farmers to the federal Farm Services Agency to participate in that agency's programs, he said.

Advertisement

Bustillos said there's strong "cooperation from growers" in providing the numbers.

"There's always a standard error, how precise an estimate is, but it's the best that's out there," he said.

Bustillos said data about the amount of chile produced in-state also is collected from processing companies.

There was a 16 percent drop from 2012 to 2013 in the amount of chile grown statewide, according to the numbers. And the overall value of the crop, as sold from the field, declined from about $65.4 million to $49.8 million in the same period.

Part of the production decline is because the crop faced some problems, including a delayed harvest start and wet weather that promoted plant disease toward the end, Hawkins said.

"We had less yield, especially for green," she said.

Because the season was condensed, some green chile turned red before it could be harvested, experts said.

Long-term pressures, such as labor costs and competition from other countries, remain as challenges to the New Mexico crop, experts said.

Robin Zielinski — Sun-News
Dr. Paul Bosland, co-founder and director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University and Regents Professor, waters transplant chile plants at NMSU's greenhouse. The plants will be planted at the end of April.

Last year's chile acreage is about one-quarter of the state's all-time high of 34,500 acres harvested in 1992. That high was just prior to the implementation of a landmark free-trade agreement, NAFTA, which cut tariffs on international produce and sent the state's chile pepper acreage into a two-decade tailspin, experts have said. But they've also noted that acreage isn't the only indicator of the chile industry's health in the state because New Mexico-based processing companies, which use both in-state and imported chile, boost the overall economic impact of chile.

Planting underway

Across the county, growers are seeding chile fields to start the 2014 chile crop.

Franzoy began planting chile seeds around the first part of March, a typical time line he said. Different rounds of plantings will continue through to early or mid-April, which winds up stretching out the harvest season.

A few growers may plant chile through early May.

Late last week, about 60 percent of green chile had been planted, and most red chile and paprika had been planted, said Stephanie Walker, Cooperative Extension Service vegetable specialist based at New Mexico State University.

Different about this year is that the plants seem to be progressing faster than last year, farmers said. That's thanks to slightly warmer weather. Last year, a prolonged cool spell slowed the early growth of plants.

"I'm going to say we'll be about a week ahead" of last year, said Scott Adams, who also grows chile around Hatch.

Franzoy said his crop seems to be about 10 to 15 days ahead of the 2013's.

"We've had a better spring than last year. The temperature is better," he said. "It looks good."

Las Cruces-area chile farmer Chris Biad said the weather has been "great" so far, and he's ready for the upcoming season.

"The majority of what we're doing is red," he said. "A small portion of what we're doing is green."

Biad said he also sells chile seeds to a number of other farmers to start their fields.

Some growers buy seedling chile plants, instead of seeds. Those typically are planted in April after the threat of frost has passed, experts said.

Water woes

An ongoing river water irrigation drought has some impact on the chile crop, but in a round-about way, growers said.

Many farmers, even in better river-water irrigation years, use groundwater to grow chile because it's cleaner and doesn't carry plant diseases. But, after several years of a river water drought, more wells aren't pumping as much water, Franzoy said. It's a sign the ground water supply is shrinking.

And that impacts how much water some wells can pump during a single irrigation. When water doesn't cover a whole field at the time the plants need it, that can hurt the amount of chile and other crops produced, Franzoy said.

"For chile, it's maybe 5 percent, but for onions, it's going to impact us in some areas as much as 30 percent on our yields," Franzoy said. "If our wells keep dropping off, we could lose even more production on our crops. It's getting worse all the time."

Adams said much of his chile — he grows green peppers for processing facilities — is on drip irrigation. Because of that, the well-pumping problem hasn't impacted his production. But, if the situation worsens, that might not last, he said.

Also, another problem that stems from using groundwater is that salts from the water build up in soil, growers said. That tends to hurt crop growth, but, for chile, the effect isn't as severe.

In spite of an ongoing drought, a slight positive is that chile plant disease problems caused by a certain insect pest are expected to be low because of it, Walker said.

"We're taking the challenges with the good, and looking forward to a good season," she said.

Adams said underground water supply in the Hatch needs a recharge. And that can only stem from snow run-off into the Rio Grande, which feeds Elephant Butte Lake and Caballo Reservoir just north of Doña Ana County.

"We need a lot of grace from God to fill our lakes up, get our aquifers filled, and we're good to go," he said.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story